Alum Wins Advocacy Award

Congratulations to Sam Custer of Ohio State Extension’s Darke County office (pictured with his grandson Owen), who received the Agricultural Advocacy Award at the Darke County Chamber of Commerce’s annual Ag Day Luncheon and Program in Greenville March 25. The award is given to those who advocate for the advancement of agriculture in the community.  Custer earned his bachelors (1981) and masters (1984) degrees in agricultural education, both from The Ohio State University.

In her proclamation, Chamber President Sharon Deschambeau said:

“Samuel Custer has demonstrated extensive participation, leadership and support of agriculture. Sam assists Darke County with some of the biggest changes in agriculture — going global and technology. Darke County farmers now operate in an international market and they work in a highly technical arena providing animal comfort and care, geospatial machinery operation, and selection of seed for optimal performance with less chemicals — all while increasing efficiencies and profitability.

“Sam Custer’s local role is to bring unbiased research information from The Ohio State University to the agriculture community of Darke County and to work with local farmers to do on-farm research and share that information back with the university. This is a continuation of 100 years of work that allows farmers to meet the nutrient needs of our expanding population.”

Also during the luncheon, John Fulton of the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering presented “Big Data in Agriculture,” featuring trends in technology, data management and sustainability. His family owns Fulton Farms in Troy.